Peak Employment Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh region is in select company, one of only five of the top 100 major metropolitan areas in the United States to hit their highest employment levels in a decade in October 2011.

Pittsburgh and four metro regions in Texas -- Austin, El Paso, Houston and McAllen-Edinburg --were the only ones in October 2011 to do so, according to an On Numbers analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Pittsburgh didn't bust because the region didn't boom. Employment has long been in the toilet. What's the big deal about a peak in Pittsburgh? Well, you could say the same things about a host of other lousy cities. How come none of them are also listed?